Lyhanna case: brother of main suspect held in custody
The brother of Jérôme B., suspected of abducting and unlawfully imprisoning the young Lyhanna in France, has been arrested and placed in custody for other violent offences.
Lyhanna case: brother of main suspect held in custody
French investigators arrested on Monday the brother of Jérôme B., the 41-year-old man suspected of being involved in the disappearance and death of the schoolgirl Lyhanna. The announcement was made by the prosecutor of Auch, Clémence Meyer, in a statement reported by DHNET.
The individual is being questioned over facts dating from the period 2007-2017. He is suspected of having sexually assaulted a teenager aged over 15 years old, domestic violence, unlawfully depriving a person of liberty and making repeated death threats against his partner.
Jérôme B. is the father of one of young Lyhanna's classmates. Lyhanna was 11 years old. Her body was discovered on Thursday in an agricultural storage structure after nearly a week of searches. The last time she had been seen was on 29 May, when she got into the suspect's car in front of her school.
Hundreds of volunteers, supervised by the gendarmerie, had participated in searches in an attempt to locate her.
The 41-year-old man has been charged with abduction and unlawful imprisonment. The exact causes of death remain undetermined. He had already been the subject of several reports and four complaints for suspected sexual crimes against minors, without ever being prosecuted until now.
The arrest of his brother significantly broadens the scope of the investigation.
Source: DHnet